We lost our rationality in signing several PPAs; those involved must be punished – Atta Akyea
“It seems to me that probably in the arrangement to solve the energy crisis, we suspended our rationality; and I say this not to insult anybody because we did calculate the impact of these contract we signed”, he said, adding “in 2018 alone, excess generational capacity arising out of signed PPAs cost the government about ¢320 million capacity charges. And that is unpardonable commercial arrangement”
The Chairman of Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament, Samuel Atta Akyea has called for the prosecution of those behind the signing of the several Power Purchasing Agreements during the power fluctuation or ‘dumsor’ era, saying they did a big dis-service to the economy.
According to him, the whole PPAs arrangement were in violation of the Public Procurement Act since they were not subjected to competitive bidding.
Speaking at a forum organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs on “What does Ghana Stand to Gain from PPA Transparency”, the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South said the signing of the several PPAs has caused financial loss to the state.
“The kind of PPAs that we had were just liked a ‘knee jerked’ reaction to the kind of challenges we had, so that at the end of the day we’re so anxious in solving the energy crisis that we lost our rationality; that is one of the things which is a chief concern to me.”
“It seems to me that probably in the arrangement to solve the energy crisis, we suspended our rationality; and I say this not to insult anybody because we did calculate the impact of these contract we signed”, he said, adding “in 2018 alone, excess generational capacity arising out of signed PPAs cost the government about ¢320 million capacity charges. And that is unpardonable commercial arrangement”
“If you asked me as a lawyer is causing financial loss to the state. And I will be tempted to say that those who are involved should not go scot free. It’s too an expensive undertaking for a country struggling to gather coins. And that is my first observation”, he pointed out.
On the second observation made, Mr. Atta-Akyea said it is absolutely unlawful for government business to forego competitive bidding.
“When you have a government hand picking an individual or company to come and do power production, what will be the basis of the handpicking. Can it be political patronage, what are you comparing with, you have nothing to compare with. That is why you will go and get involved with Ameri and then you look at it and as the presenter said is the most expensive power contract you can ever talk of”, he stressed.
“So therefore the whole arrangement is in violation of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663) as Amended with (Act 914). If you look at it from the perspective that it was never opened for people to come in and solve the problem. The benefit of competitive bidding is that the ultimate beneficiary of the project has a way to compare, so that you will not be shortchanged. So anything you don’t compare, you’ll have crisis.”
